European shares end at 5-week high on U.S. data

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - European shares hit a five-week closing high on Monday to finish above a key resistance level, helped by strong U.S. new home sales data, with banks rising following the release of the stress tests results.

The banking sector featured among the top performers. Allied Irish Banks (ALBK.I), Barclays (BARC.L), Dexia (DEXI.BR) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) gained 4.1 to 5.6 percent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares provisionally closed up 0.4 percent higher at 1,048.15 points.

The Euro STOXX 50 index .STOXX50E, the euro zone's blue-chip index, was 0.8 percent higher at 2,741.73 points, closing above the 50-percent Fibonacci retracement of 2,737.62 points from its high in April to a low in May for the first time in five weeks.

"The U.S. new home sales were quite good and the market has moved higher on that," said Stephen Pope, chief global equity strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. "But volume is low. We are in the middle of earnings season and investors are still waiting to see what happens."

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) dipped 1.3 percent. The Wall Street Journal said Britain's GlaxoSmithKline had recently made "a very casual approach" to Genzyme Corp GENZ.O but industry insiders and analysts said Glaxo's chief executive was unlikely to pursue a deal.

(Reporting by Joanne Frearson)